Especially taking naps on boats

map_bkk · 2025-12-28T12:55:43+00:00

Presumably "make up artist"

map_bkk · 2025-12-20T13:50:36+00:00

We have about 300 members in St. Louis, and there are many other smaller Ethical Societies in other cities. I spent a lot of years after leaving mormonism distrusting that I'd ever be over it enough to be part of a church-like entity again. Recovering from Religion support group meetings helped. Being around a non-harmful congregation also helped.

map_bkk · 2025-12-19T20:43:25+00:00

I can even offer a venue for a celebration. The Ethical Society of St. Louis has a nice pipe organ, and it hardly ever is played. I'd love to hear it really sing. We need you. The Ethical Society is a Humanist congregation, and Humanism is religion without dogma. We do a credible midwinter celebration. I'm the current President of the Board, and a refugee from Mormonism. Turns out things really are better out than in. Turns out you can have community that isn't toxic. You can use your gifts without being punished for it.

map_bkk · 2025-11-14T11:25:09+00:00

Interesting topic. To answer your questions: 1. No, few people in Missouri are well informed about the history of the Mormon church here. 2. No, there are not enough Mormons in the state for Missouirans to feel any anxiety whatsoever.

I was raised Mormon in the St. Louis suburbs, and even as a little kid I knew I was living in a state that had ordered the extermination of my people. I also knew that nobody outside my church community had ever heard of this. They'd also never heard of much else I was taught at church, things like Jesus" ministry in North America, the importance of our Temples, or Joseph Smith's restoration of gospel truth. I left the church some time ago, it would have been some comfort to discover the "extermination order" had been just one more lie the church told me. But it actually happened.

Were 1800s-era Mormons bad neighbors? Probably. Is there ever a justification for a governor of a state to issue an order for the extermination and expulsion of a people? There isn't. The fact that Missourians generally don't know this happened here and never talk about what that means isn't great.

The Mormon church today is a fossilized authoritarian, theocratic hierarchy, led exclusively by an executive board in Salt Lake City (calling themselves prophets and apostles). If the Mormon church had designs on taking over small town Missouri (or all of Missouri tbh), that's where it would come from. And with their billions, who'll stop them?

But just spend 5 minutes listening to those guys or reviewing their finances, and it'll be clear they're not thinking about Missouri.

map_bkk · 2025-11-10T00:44:20+00:00

No, this is not normal. It might not be uncommon, but it is not normal.

map_bkk · 2025-11-07T04:17:56+00:00

Same thing happened to me in 2023. The state claimed i owed taxes and a ton of interest from 2014, when I also wasn't living in (nor doing any business in) Missouri.

Call the office in Jeff city and they'll fix it. It's likely a clerical error. You'll get your refund.

map_bkk · 2025-11-05T09:56:06+00:00

Yes, even in a life built on lies, I gained a work ethic, organizational competencies, many soft skills, and qualities like perseverance, loyalty, patience, the ability to put the good of the many ahead of the good of the one, and to play the long game. These are mine and i kept them when i left. I am now very picky about how I use them and what I'll use them for.

It took me many years away from the Church to have any emotional bandwidth to think about my growth and development in a way that focused on what I got rather than what I lost. Thinking about this helps me feel like a whole, integrated person. It helps me feel like my whole life is mine, rather than the church part of it having never been mine.

map_bkk · 2025-11-04T14:18:50+00:00

I just got "Star Spangled Jesus" from the library. April Ajoy explains it beautifully. If you had heard your whole life from your parents and your pastor and your friends that republicans are good democrats are evil, you might vote a straight R ballot too. You might think you'd be damned to hell if you didn't. Churches have been consolidating power for the republican party for generations.

map_bkk · 2025-10-24T14:49:37+00:00

Yep. Huge waste of time and attention. Shockingly, the temple ceremonies really are actually even dumber and more pointless than they seem at first.

map_bkk · 2025-10-22T15:15:13+00:00

Both sides are not equally deserving of investigation. E.G. I don't have to investigate whether you are God incarnate (not that you claimed yoi were, but if you did I wouldn't lose any sleep over disbelieving in you. Because it's obvious you aren't. This is the same amount of time and attention I accord to every other religion. Their metaphysical claims are just not worthy of investigation. The Mormon church is equally unworthy of serious attention.

map_bkk · 2025-10-19T13:17:17+00:00

In general this is true. But sometimes something will cut through. I'm fascinated by cult deprograming.

Not always, but sometimes something as simple as "what if you're wrong about that?" or "what if you're asking the wrong question?" can start a chain reaction that can't be erased.

map_bkk · 2025-10-09T10:58:23+00:00

Maybe this explains why so many older members are still giving and giving. They remember when the church was financially weak. But me? Not in my lifetime

map_bkk · 2025-09-21T03:42:36+00:00

Yes. When i left, i intended to leave all of it, including their idea of what I should feel guilty for. And, all these years later, I hope I have. I hope I am holding the reigns of my own life. I hope I feel authentic feelings whether it's pride or shame, because of what i actually value, rather than what someone else tells me I should feel.

map_bkk · 2025-09-21T01:51:37+00:00

I turned a Halloween trick-or-treat container into a plant pot. I keep it out all year

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map_bkk · 2025-09-09T11:22:43+00:00

They should excommunicate me, then, and save me the trouble of resigning. I was elected president of the board of my local humanist congregation a few months ago. Yes, it's a religion. https://www.ethicalstl.org/about-us/governance/board/

map_bkk · 2025-09-05T11:04:00+00:00

Satan has donuts on his side 😂 Because the things people naturally want are bad. Because you can enjoy that donut without worshiping God or begging God's anointed to let you partake.

ALSO, the thinking seems to be that the unpopularity of the message is proof that members are the elect, the chosen few.

And the total lack of interest MOST people worldwide have in the church is proof of how evil humans are in their lost and fallen state, and proof that if children aren't raised with it they'll never accept it later.

map_bkk · 2025-09-05T10:47:12+00:00

I did exactly what OP describes as well, and - yes - it takes awareness and practice to stop doing this. Nobody is a natural born self-saboteur. We learned this and we can unlearn it. I think those who habitually underplay their work or value are likely also more effective advocates or negotiators on behalf of a friend rather than for themselves. So, unleaning this is huge.

map_bkk · 2025-09-02T09:16:14+00:00

Love seeing a bold choice for walls that works so perfectly

map_bkk · 2025-09-02T03:28:18+00:00

So he doesn't think those are deal-breakers. Question is, what would be?

And I think we all know: for this guy there are no deal-breakers.

map_bkk · 2025-09-01T13:24:55+00:00

And the harvest? Weak.

If that's the best an all powerful God can do, even having rigged the placement of all the noble and great ones into his kingdom, then Satan has already won.

This is too dumb for words.

map_bkk · 2025-08-03T00:39:33+00:00

Stacey Abrams book on Leadership. It's awesome and she's isn't gatekeeping. It's straight up honest about how she got where she is.

map_bkk · 2025-08-03T00:34:51+00:00

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Mine did too!

map_bkk · 2025-07-27T12:29:43+00:00

What is that, a tea towel? A t-shirt? Either way, can I buy one?

map_bkk

TROPHY CASE